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The Bimbettes
The Bimbettes (Individual names Claudette, Laurette and Paulette) are identical blonde triplets who fawn over Gaston in Beauty and the Beast. They wear red, amber and green dresses respectively, and possess differing hairstyles that vary constantly throughout their appearances in the movie. Background The Bimbettes, whose individual names names are Claudette (with the red dress), Laurette (with the amber dress) and Paulette (with the green dress), are identical triplet sisters working as waitresses at a local tavern in the unnamed French village that is the home of Belle. Like most of the young women of the village (according to the 1994 Marvel comics as well as implied in the original film), they are infatuated with Gaston, showing neither awareness or concern over his truly boorish and chauvinistic nature, but he has no interest in marrying any of them because he wants the most beautiful girl in town as his wife Personality Collectively, the Bimbettes are lovestruck maidens who swoon for Gaston, primarily due to his handsome physique. Like Gaston, they primarily like someone largely because of how they look, although it is unclear if they are obsessed with their own looks like Gaston is. They think Belle is crazy for not admiring Gaston as much as they do, though they seemed to be oblivious to Gaston's aggressive and sexist demeanor. They also get upset very easily too. Unlike Belle, they have some desire to get married and be a man's wife. They do not seem to have any respect for Gaston's partner LeFou, at least in the Marvel Comics. They were also shown to be very forgiving in spite of whatever happened, as evidenced by their giving comfort to Gaston despite the latter's attempt to marry Belle beforehand, and their devastation when they found out he was the groom at the failed wedding, as well as their attending the Prince and Belle's wedding despite Gaston's death. In the Marvel Comics, they are shown to be somewhat jealous of Belle and are constantly coming up with plans to ensure Gaston returned their love and stop obsessing with Belle. Although they are not book-smart, they have had moments of cleverness, at least in the Marvel Comics, a notable instance being the third issue when one of the Bimbettes (Laurette) disguised herself as Belle, anticipating that Gaston would want to choose Belle at a wife auction, not letting up the disguise until after she won Gaston during the auction, and even then, only because her sisters interfered.1 Another instance of their cleverness was demonstrated in the fourth issue when Claudette, Laurette and Paulette managed to successfully trick a bear into temporarily breaking out of hibernation by starting a fire to supply warmth, a leafy branch to indicate blossoming plants, and Laurette tweeting like a bird to indicate birds had come out for spring. The same issue also implied they were good at mathematics or at the very least counting, as their first appearance in the issue had them counting up to 783 when watching Gaston use books as barbells. In the first issue, they were also shown to be good at setting hunting traps, as they had a net trap set up that would activate if stepped on (which they intended to use on Gaston, although because Gaston knocked LeFou away, the latter accidentally set the trap instead). It was implied in the film, the Wedding Wishes coloring book, and Disney Princess: Royal Weddings that despite their differences, especially their differing views of Gaston, the Bimbettes viewed Belle as a friend, as they were seen attending both the failed wedding between Gaston and Belle and the wedding between Belle and the Prince. The former instance also showed them personally helping in setting up the wedding. While there was little interaction between them and Belle, Wedding Wishes as well as to a lesser extent Royal Weddings does imply that Belle at least considered them friends during her wedding with the Prince. In the prequel book Belle's Discovery, however, as children the Bimbettes had a cruel and antagonistic relationship towards Belle due to the situation of her parents. Despite their initial negative views about Belle in the beginning, however, they eventually grew to respect her late in the book, as demonstrated by their willingly volunteering to help Belle prepare the bookstore for its grand reopening by making decorations for it. Although they were in love with Gaston, their actual relationship with Gaston varied: in the original film as well as the comics, it is strongly implied that Gaston completely ignored them (outside of general acknowledgement that they love him in the case of the comics) in favor of Belle since childhood, with the latter source having Gaston ending up outraged when he discovered one of them posing as Belle; while in the musical, they were mentioned to have some sort of romantic relationship prior to Gaston pursuing Belle. On a related note, their reactions to Gaston's arrival in the failed wedding proposal in the original film implied that they had been kept in the dark about Gaston being the groom for Belle's wedding, while in the musical version of the event, it was made clear that Gaston informed them of his intention of marrying Belle. In one of the comics, they were shown trying to attract Gaston's attention while sledding. Similarly, how they reacted to Belle being Gaston's chosen bride also varied: In the film, it was implied that they had ultimately accepted that Gaston wanted to marry Belle over themselves, while in the musical they were devastated to the point of crying, while in the Marvel Comics, they were shown to be spiteful and wanting Gaston to focus on and marry of them rather than Belle. Physical Appearance The Bimbettes are three identical triplets, with long, neatly groomed blonde hair ending just below the waist in a ponytail, and green eyes. They possess voluptuous bodies with a massive amount of cleavage (though this was toned down slightly in the Marvel Comics series, presumably for the slightly younger reader base). Aside from varying hairstyles that switch at random, the only discernible differences between them are the color of their dresses and hair bows: red for Claudette, amber for Laurette, and green for Paulette. They also wear bloomers and matching black strap mary-jane shoes (although the latter was depicted as slippers in the comics). Their dresses are slightly similar to Belle's ball gown, only slightly less elaborate, serving as tavern dresses. In addition, their dresses, or at least Claudette's, possessed a ribbon on the posterior. Their physical beauty was high enough for LeFou to briefly react with some infatuation for them, prior to their accidentally squirting LeFou with water. In the issues of Beauty and the Beast set during the winter, they are seen wearing shawls over their dresses, colored in a similar manner to their dresses. When they appeared as children in one of the comics, they had long winter dresses with a ribbon tied at the back. Although they still had ponytails, they seemed to be strapped with a regular cord instead of a hair bow. In addition, they also wore slippers. Because of the blue coloring of their appearance, it is difficult to discern the colors of the dresses, although Claudette's may have been red due to it having a darker shade than her sisters. In Belle's Discovery, they are depicted as wearing sundresses which are colored the same as their older selves. When the Prince and Lumière were getting supplies for the Prince and Belle's wedding in Disney Princess: Royal Weddings, Paulette was seen wearing a dress with sleeves covering her shoulders as well as a hat, all colored green, while Claudette was seen wearing a red dress similar to her regular dress, only with a red sash covering her cleavage. In the live-action remake, the Bimbettes, or rather, the Village Lasses, were given a significant redesign. Aside from being depicted as having curly dark hair instead of straight blonde hair, they also wore largely similar dresses, which are depicted as more conservatively designed and very fancy, as well as being primarily pink in color (presumably to better contrast with Belle's blue dress) with some floral patterns on the sleeves and corset as well as white pinnies, as well as wearing fancy pink hats, and were shown to wear a significant amount of makeup, which showcased their obsession with outer beauty. Despite their hair color change, there was one brief nod to their original hair color in the beginning song where one of them was seen trying out a blonde-colored wig. They were also seen wearing stringy hair bows at one point, when Gaston, in reference to dating them, stated that "a hunter does not waste time hunting rabbits." Elise is depicted as having a beauty spot on the right side of her face near her mouth as well as red flowers and gold oak leaf patterns on her dress; Eloise is depicted as having red flowers and bucket patterns on her sleeves as well as a white polka-dot pattern on her otherwise pink corset, and Eliana is depicted as having her beauty spot just underneath her right eye, a slight mantle on her dress, and elaborate red patterns on the dress. Trivia * At one point in the movie, Claudette has Jasmine's hairstyle, Laurette has Belle's and Paulette has Ariel's. However, at the end of the reprise to Gaston, all three girls have Jasmine's hairstyle, likely as the result of an animation error that could not be fixed in time for the movie's release. During the song and pretty much the whole time they're shown in the movie, their hairstyles continually switch around. They basically all wear the hairstyle of three of the Disney Princesses. ** Coincidentially, the dress colors each of the Bimbettes were wearing were later worn by Belle later in the film. Specifically, Belle wore a green-colored dress in the scenes featuring her being supplied with a library by Beast like Paulette; Belle wore a red/pink colored dress with a matching cloak during "Something There" (and technically "Human Again") similar to Claudette; and Belle wore her trademark ballroom gown during the ballroom scene and the ending, which was colored yellow, similar to Laurette's amber dress. * While Claudette and Laurette were voiced by the late Mary Kay Bergman, Paulette's voice actress, Kath Soucie, coincidentally voiced the Enchantress in The Enchanted Christmas, who bears some resemblance to her. * The Bimbettes can be seen in web advertisements for Walt Disney World, and can now be met officially in the Belle's Village area of New Fantasyland, albeit with (for now) their look from the stage show in the neighboring Disney's Hollywood Studios. ** Though not major characters, they are three of the most popular characters in the Beauty and the Beast film series. * In the final version of the film, due to the character of Aunt Marguerite being cut from Katzenberg's demand of a rewrite to the film, the Bimbettes were the closest counterparts to Belle's spoiled sisters from the original fairy tale as well as the 1988 draft for the film, though not as malicious. In the 2017 live-action remake, however, they were depicted as being a lot closer in characterization to Belle's spoiled sisters, especially in terms of maliciousness. * The name "Bimbette" more than likely comes from the American word, "bimbo", which means 'a physically attractive woman who lacks intelligence, and also uses her body to get what she wants'. ** The American word itself is derived from an Italian word that meant "boy". The feminine equivalent would have been "bimbette". * Even though the girls are called the "Bimbettes" in the film and "Silly Girls" in the musical, they're unofficially known by many other monikers, such as the "The Tavern Girls", "The Village Girls", "The Babettes", "Triplets" and even "Barmaids", "Gaston's Entourage" and "Tavern Wenches". Even their actual given names were never revealed until the Platinum and Diamond Edition DVDs were released. They are known as the Village Lasses in the live-action film. ** "Babettes", one of the sisters' collective names by fans, is pronounced "babe-ettes"; while the name "Babette" is pronounced "bab-et". * Not counting song lyrics, sighing dreamily and crying (wailing like infants in most adaptations in the musical), in the movie they only have one line of dialogue each: Specifically, their expressing shock that Belle would not like Gaston while swooning him. They are given more dialogue in the Broadway musical, however, and their role in the story is expanded a bit. ** Ironically, the scene relating to their sole dialogue in the film frequently ended up cut in most adaptations or other mediums featuring the triplets (the latter via flashbacks). ** Although not an actual phrase used by them in the film, the production photo for them signed by Mary Kay Bergman as well as their autographed Disney Dollar has them using the phrase "Ooh-la-la!". * Ironically, despite Belle being considered by the village to be the most beautiful woman in the village, Laurette disguised herself as Belle flawlessly enough to fool Gaston initially, which conflicted with the claim that Belle's looks had no parallel. * The end of "Gaston" confirms that the girls are indeed waitresses as Paulette (with Jasmine's hairstyle) is seen holding a silver tray while Gaston's buddies are cheering for him.5 However, they are not yet presently doing this job at Walt Disney World's New Fantasyland equivalent. * In the Belle's Village area of New Fantasyland, in the ordering area of Gaston's Tavern, there is a beer barrel on the wall that says "Trois Blondes Biere" (French for "Three Blondes Beer") on it. Trois Blondes is the girls' collective name in French. * The WDCC figurine and the comics reveal that the Bimbettes have blue eyes, but they have green eyes in the movie as well as in Belle's Discovery. In addition, their appearance in Disney Princess: Royal Weddings''depicts them with brown eyes. ** On a related note, this technically made them the first Disney characters to possess green eyes ''without being villains. * While singing their verses in the Gaston song, Paulette's hand while motioning (immediately prior to Gaston lifting their bench) is using the hand sign that means "A-Okay" in the heavy metal subculture. * A similar trio of girls were seen in the "Bothered" story section for the first issue of Disney Comics' New Adventures of Disney's Beauty and the Beast, watching a trio of boys playing pirates who eventually abduct Belle and attempt to chase them due to wanting to be taken prisoner. However, it is unclear if they are intended to be the same as the Bimbettes due to one of their dresses being purple instead of green, as well as their being redheads with freckles instead of blondes with no freckles. * Similar groups of characters in Aladdin and The Princess and the Frog were seen sharing the Bimbettes' designs. However, the latter group, unlike the Bimbettes and/or the Harem Girls, were not triplets, or at the very least are not identical triplets, due to their having different hair colors and, to a certain extent, eye colors and eye shapes. * During the flashback to the original film in issue 5 of the Marvel Comics series, one of the triplets says in regards to Belle "Why, she doesn't even go to dances!" while enviously wondering why Gaston's going for her when he could have them. This was a subtle reference to the original fairy tale, as Belle frequently stayed away from social gatherings and preferred to stay at home and read good books, to which her elder sisters frequently mocked her for this. * In the first draft of the Woolverton version of the film made in 1990, they had far less of a role, only being present for the opening song and the failed wedding. In addition, in the former, Gaston was seen giving a handsome pose toward them as they sang their lines, while in the final release of the film, he does not pay any attention to them at all. In addition, the Gaston song in that draft indicated that the verse "For there's no one as burly and brawny" was originally intended to be sung by LeFou instead of the Bimbettes. Category:Characters Category:Females Category:Character trios Category:Neutral characters Category:Beauty and the Beast Category:Beauty and the Beast characters Category:Green Eyes Category:Blondes Category:Twins/Triplets Category:Humans Category:Caucasian Category:French Category:European Category:Disney characters Category:Traditionally animated characters Category:Minor characters